Fire Hazard Signs
Lately we have had quite a few questions from citizens who find our local Fire Hazard signs confusing, so we thought we would try to clarify.
First, because the Bragg Creek area sits at the junction of five separate political jurisdictions the rules for outdoor burning can vary. Rocky View County, The Townsite of Redwood Meadows, Tsuut’ina Nation, Foothills County, and The Calgary Forest Area (Kananaskis) all have their own criteria for establishing restrictions on outdoor burning. There may be a Fire Ban in Rocky View, a Fire Advisory in Tsuut’ina and Foothills, and no restrictions in Redwood and the Calgary Forest Area, or any of the many permutations and combinations possible with five jurisdictions.
Second, our political jurisdictions cover a large geographical area and fire hazards may vary greatly over this range. In fact, fire hazards can be quite variable within a very small range. My open lawn may be dry and extremely hazardous, while my neighbor two doors away may have a shady property which is still snow covered. It is not practical to establish fire restrictions on a property by property basis, so a fire ban which may seem unnecessary locally, is critical for the good of the entire County. The cost incurred due to wildfire in terms of lives and property, as well as the cost to control the fire, makes it essential that our municipal emergency managers adopt a very conservative risk management strategy regarding outdoor burning.
Generally speaking outdoor burning restrictions fall into three categories.
No Restrictions means that outdoor burning may be conducted following some basic rules. Tis usually means that recreational fires must be in approved firepits and larger fires require a permit. There are also restrictions on what is being burned, usually clean wood and paper.
A Fire Advisory means that permitted burning is prohibited. Small recreational fires in approved firepits are allowed.
A Fire Ban means that no outdoor burning is permitted (with the exception of propane fueled firepits and BBQs)
The above is a very cursory outline of these restrictions. Specific details vary by jurisdiction, but may be found on your jurisdiction’s website.
These fire restrictions are legal orders, with large fines possible for failure to comply. In addition, if a wildfire is started by unapproved burning, or burning during a ban, the person conducting the Illegal burn could be liable for costs associated with the fire loss.
For many years it was somewhat difficult to know when there was a ban in place. Citizens could be excused for burning during a ban because “they didn’t know”. Often people’s understanding of fire ban status was based on hearsay,
Each jurisdiction, on their website, shows current fire restriction status in their area. In addition, Alberta Fire Bans (www. albertafirebans.ca) is a website which shows the current status throughout Alberta. There are also notification services, like Rocky View’s “Safe and Sound” app, which are free and alert citizens to a great many local issues. Every citizen should sign up for these free and useful apps.
That all being said, Rocky View County decided a few years ago to install signs at all of the entrances to Bragg Creek to show definitively the current status of fire restriction in the County.
Because we are on the edge of the Forest Area, it was decided to combine these Fire Restriction signs with new updated Fire Hazard signs, to show the hazard in the Forest Area for those camping or hiking in Kananaskis.
The resultant signs look like the graphic on this page.
The top half shows fire hazard information, while the bottom half shows burning restriction status. In an ideal world, both classes of information would be consistent. However, in the real world, circumstances often result in a hazard status which may not appear to reflect the need for a restriction on burning. In any event, a Fire Advisory or Fire Ban is absolutely the law, and those who ignore it are liable to penalty.
We have chosen to live in this beautiful area surrounded by forest and extremely vulnerable to wildfire. Please exercise caution when burning, and if there is any doubt about fire restriction status, please check with albertafirebans.ca or your local municipality.
